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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27578111">i'll make you happy (if you let me feel a ray of your sun)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroundu/pseuds/aroundu'>aroundu</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Onde del Mare [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(but they basically are), (not rlly angst; they just arent together), (the setting of fates but not rlly the plot), Fire Emblem AU, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Secret Identity, Sharing a Bed, Singer! Rei, commitment issues, rei's stage name is Bloody Mary</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:56:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,173</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27578111</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroundu/pseuds/aroundu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaoru smirked, though unlike other soldiers who looked at Rei like a piece of meat, his smiles were always playful and warm, even if their conversations consisted of teasing. “I am a completely qualified expert in all matters concerning you, Mare.” He turned on the ledge so both legs hung inside the room, and held out his arms with a wink. “I’m also a qualified masseuse, so if you ever want these skillful hands to ease out those tensions in your back~”</p><p>“I’ll call an actual professional if I ever need such help. You’d snap my poor back with those soldier hands of yours- your types are too rough. I’m delicate as a flower, and I need the treatment to go with it.” He crossed his arms, ignoring the exaggerated pain on Kaoru’s face.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hakaze Kaoru/Sakuma Rei</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Onde del Mare [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994170</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Reikao Week 2020!</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i'll make you happy (if you let me feel a ray of your sun)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>reupload bcuz the draft system on ao3 sucks and flopped the original one. hopefully this one shows up in the tag<br/>(written for reikao week 2020&lt;3)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The days in Cykrenshia were blessed with frequent frillings of rainstorms, and thick faceless clouds painting the blue skies away. Natives loved the weather; it was home to walk through watery streets paved with weathered stones and wander beneath awnings in the market- though no one complained if a drop slid down their arm, cascading over opened pores due to the rainy chill. It was the visitors to the city that knew nothing of carrying umbrellas, because why would such a mundane item occupy their packing lists when the fine reason for traveling through the warring lands of Nohr or Hoshido was to see the Opera House?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A tall, gothic building with marble pillars and lush red carpets scrubbed clean on the hour by scoundry workers dressed in crisp black uniforms to cover the filth they carried in their work., it was truly a building to behold. And to have such expensive carpeting in a city booming with thunder and the marching boots of troops passing through, it speaks for the high degree the Opera House builds itself on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rei wasn’t born in Cykrenshia, but with how he quite literally dances in the rain and acts like the blood in his veins is the same as the water dribbling through the streets, everyone was none the wiser about his origins. People enjoyed looking into his past, a bit too much maybe, but that was the life of the capital heartthrob of the rain-ridden city. They’d never find anything, yet he found a certain fun tingle on his lips when he humored the misinformations people asked, so his reputation also grew into a piece of mystery. All the better, he supposed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>From a performer trying to draw as many people into his solo acts with a voice that catered water to dance with him, it really was the best thing in the world to have people so interested in </span>
  <em>
    <span>Bloody Mary</span>
  </em>
  <span>-  the eloquent title for a tall, dark, mysterious drink for as many eyes as there are raindrops in a storm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the Opera House too, it was all the better that he had an airy reputation that hooked people to him, each trying to have a single taste of the intoxicating red running water of Bloody Mary. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the fans, of course they enjoyed the mystique Rei carried with him. Already a star performer on stage, hypnotizing attendees with his water dance and siren esque song, so his enigmatic nature that followed him off-stage was just as enticing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone enjoyed Bloody Mary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except Rei Sakuma.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But so long as Mary needed to exist, he would lock himself away and fall into the perfect doll of his persona. That didn’t mean he could part ways with the loneliness that chipped away at him like an amateur sculptor learning how to chisel for the first time- working too fast with little patience and picking off too much rock that leaves no discernable hint of a masterpiece left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Comfort in Cykrenshia is fleeting and made up of nothing more than obsessive fans, sleazy managers, and maybe a fellow performer, but Rei opted to avoid such interactions lest there be some sort of drama to arise. Or maybe he simply didn’t want to trust someone he’d be seeing repeatedly and had the potential to betray him- someone with his past had to be careful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The last option was the soldiers that passed through the city. They stayed for a few days at a time, coming to the Opera House to sit on the boats cascaded through the lake in the building, all to watch the variety of singers and dancers for the evening. There was only one reason for messing with the soldiers considering their fleeting passings- a physical comfort for a single night. Multiple if you were lucky, but most soldiers that were daring enough to approach the performers were drunkards filled with overcompensating confidence. Rei held no distaste for his coworkers that sought to receive their affections, and when he first started working even he enjoyed flirting just to receive an inkling of affection that he never had growing up, but he cut it off just as soon. Sex was out of question, he feared assisanations in such a vulnerable position. Romance didn’t exist in his dictionary, nor could a cursed being of loneliness ever coexist with the fluttering of hearts and love-filled kisses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, his occasional conversations with a specific soldier were nothing more than acoy act, playing a damsel only to inflate the ego of the man. His occasional conversations that turned to monthly visits were nothing more than Rei using his resources to gather information on the Nohrian Army. The monthly visits that carried on over days at a time, of which Rei spent hours with this man, it was truly just to deceive him, because there is nothing good inside Rei to be worth this much appreciation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re thinking a lot these days, aren’t you, dollface?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kaoru sat on the window ledge in his guest room, letting a leg hang out while he bent the other one to rest his head against. He was far too cute to be a soldier, but the size of his pecs and the width of his biceps did speak to the numerous years of training he’d done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rei was in the middle of stretching, torso hung over parallel to the ground with his hands reaching out to grip his ankles. “I have many performances to prepare for, and I may be wondering how I could change things to make them better than before.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re a natural, so you’d never be making a face like that just to think about performances.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh? Are you an expert, Kaoru-kun?” Rei lifted himself and straightened his back, raising an eyebrow at the blond and breaking whatever ‘face’ he claimed was there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kaoru smirked, though unlike other soldiers who looked at Rei like a piece of meat, his smiles were always playful and warm, even if their conversations consisted of teasing. “I am a completely qualified expert in all matters concerning you, Mare.” He turned on the ledge so both legs hung inside the room, and held out his arms with a wink. “I’m also a qualified masseuse, so if you ever want these skillful hands to ease out those tensions in your back~”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll call an actual professional if I ever need such help. You’d snap my poor back with those soldier hands of yours- your types are too rough. I’m delicate as a flower, and I need the treatment to go with it.” He crossed his arms, ignoring the exaggerated pain on Kaoru’s face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” he began. “I’m not like any of those other guys. I’m a big softie, y’know? Give a guy some credit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rei rolled his eyes, walking to join Kaoru at the window regardless. “I’m sure you’re the softest soldier out there, and I’m surprised they didn’t hold you back at training.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ouch, Mare.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Outside the window, small raindrops drizzled and a swirling mist blanketed the city, and only were a few late-night taverns visible from their magic-enhanced lanterns hung outside, though they looked like distant fireflies. It reminded Rei of his task to go and collect those little twin street dancers and enlist them into his performances; he was waiting for a rainier night than this because he wanted enough water in the air and on the ground to give a flashy greeting. He had spent a few nights on the streets before and he knew that natives of alleyways were the most suspicious bunch around, so he needed to be as enticing as possible to get the two little boys to come along. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Next to him, Kaoru’s hand rose to Rei’s face, delicate fingers brushing the singer’s raven black hair behind his ear. He kept his eyes trained forward, yet couldn’t keep his head from leaning into the touch of the calloused hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really, is there something wrong, Mare? You’ll never be anything but beautiful, but right now you got this big crease between your eyebrows.” A gentle finger pressed between Rei’s eyebrows, and Rei turned to narrow his eyes at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kaoru mimicked Rei’s expression, adding his own pout in the lips. “If you don’t feel like talking that’s fine, but that just means I’m going to keep blabbering without end. How, oh, how will I be made to shut up? A kiss, perhaps?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rei snorted, and damn Kaoru for reading him like a book and knowing exactly how to make him laugh. It only egged Kaoru on, who slid his arms around Rei’s torso and the silk-fabric of the singer’s performance outfit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mare Bear~ I know you must love me so much, and you know I love you like the rain loves this city,” Kaoru purred in his ear, deciding to be daring enough to have his breath tickle the eardrum.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Words, words, and more words. They’re only exchanging words, and nothing such as love exists between them. They’ve never shared lips or bed either, or well, not in that way, but when Kaoru confessed to nightmares, Rei was too selfish to pass up the opportunity to hold him and keep him safe from those terrible night terrors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Holding each other for some distant sake of comfort, and dancing around each other more teasingly than the dancers in the Opera House, yet before Kaoru approached him all those months ago, Rei was so terribly lonesome. Even if he berates himself before, during, and after spending time with him, Rei still can’t fathom cutting Kaoru out of his life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Love doesn’t exist between them, but their relationship is a flurry of sweet nothings and saccharine everythings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re so whiny, Kaoru-kun.” Rei leans back into his arms, closing his eyes to try and focus on the firm muscles of Kaoru’s chest. Oh, what a wonderful pillow it is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Only whining because you aren’t giving me enough attention.” Kaoru held him tighter, plopping his head onto a pale shoulder. “Are you tired? You were wonderful tonight, as always. We can go to sleep if you want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rei hummed, fingers moving to join Kaoru’s at his waist, and tapping a slow, thoughtful rhythm against his knuckles. “Mmm, you are impossible to decline, dear. I suppose we can retire early.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooooh~ If I’m so irresistible, then how about that kiss?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You must have misheard me.” He slipped out from Kaoru’s arms with a quick twist, and pushed the man away with his pointer finger tapping a blond-banged covered forehead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kaoru’s lips turned down into the cutest pout, and he ran a hand through his hair with a disappointed sigh. No whine came from him as Rei expected, instead he walked over to the bed and pulled the covers down, but before he could climb in, Rei bounded over and stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you get into bed wearing all your dirty, sweaty soldier uniform, then I’m dousing you like a dog.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t mind being treated like a pet-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rei hummed a high-pitched tune, and from the rain gathering on the windowsill a dull red light illuminated at the beckoning of the singer’s call. Kaoru, a man of his word in all cases but this one, quickly stepped away from the bed to shed his outer clothes covered in dirt, and when Rei held his hummed note, he continued shedding clothes- socks, shirt, pants, until he was left in nothing but his underwear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t a humble man, rightfully proud of the beautiful body he sculpted through years of being in the army, but as he eyed the singer still donned in his artistic full body outfit, he had the nerve to be slightly self conscious; his hands gathered in front of him hiding his most delicate parts despite the fact he was still somewhat clothed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really, Mare? You can’t let me have at least my pants or something?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rei smirked, crawling onto the bed and stretching out. “Ah, but I thought Kaoru-kun wanted attention? Come lay down and let me pamper you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In an instant, Kaoru was flopping down on the bed and sliding over next to Rei. Ever the self-indulger, he was used to having Kaoru’s strong arms around him and being held in the warm embrace, but he could tell in the other man’s insistent whinings that he really was craving attention. So, Rei took his time exploring. Smooth, pale hands ghosting Kaoru’s shoulders, following the indents of his collarbone to his arm, trailing down the toned biceps to the forearms then loosely entwining their fingers together. With his other hand, he began petting through blond hair, gently tugging at knots then smoothing down stray curls as an apology.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kaoru closed his eyes, content with Rei’s handling, and the singer’s heart warmed as the breathing became slow and gentle. He could do without receiving affection this night, and caring for this kind man still gave Rei all the satisfaction to ease himself into a slumber next to him. </span>
</p>
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